Ram's activity

I have found Sky Italy to be incredibly efficient. One phone call and the abbonamento changed.  I pay 19 euros per month for basic plus one package and HD-  I moved downwards from 45 euros per month with a 2 minute phone call. 

What a mess - as regards whether the estate agent is negligent - I would say you have a reasonable case.  The decree of June 2005 (no122) is concerned with buying off plan.  By the date of the compromesso the builder/seller must have deposited a sum equivalent to the caparra with a bank or insurance company to guarantee all the money that the builder will pocket up until the property is handed over to the buyer.  If this is not done the compromesso is can be annulled only by the buyer.  In this case the estate agent should have cjhecked that there was the sum lodged with the bank, and he was negligent in allowing you sign the compromesso, as well as the builder acting illegally.   Although the law can be a nightmare, in my experience a judge faced with such facts will order the immediate restitution of the caparra (and possibly the agents commission).  Of course that is no guarantee that the heirs will do so.    However, it also depends on whether the apartments were built with a full concessione edilizia and other procedures completed.  

I have rarely read such rubbish - its up there with the antievolutionists as poppycock.  It may be that the southerners are less educated than the northerners, you only have to witness the teaching standards in schools to realise that in the south of Italy the education system leaves alot to be desired, but lower intelligence? On what grounds? A Siclian can't quote Dante chapter and verse? - but I bet they can calculate possible profits and offset gains quicker than an Umbrian.  The southerners are born businessmen, despite their Arabic influence - what is this pseudo scientist saying -that Arabs are less intelligent than white Anglo Saxons - it seems to be a good piece of not so well disguised racism rather than a scientific study.    Or looking at his track record, it is probably more of an attempt to say that protestant Irish are more intelligent than any catholic!   

When I tried I was told that it is not possible to open a bank account in London, you have to do it in Italy - laws on antirecycling etc - and more recently I had clients whotried to open an account with the MpS in New York and were told the same thing.   However, i know someone who managed to open an account with Unicredit in the UK - don't know how they managed it however, technically it is not possible.  

A simple carta privata would do the trick - there should be a monetary exchange to make it completely legal, even if you were to take half the produce etc.  So it would be a type of Io, name - residence, date of birth and all the usual guff, do in affitto il terreno (catastal stuff) a  (his data) per (the period) per un affitto annuale di (amount)  Dated signed by all and sundry and photocopied... 

It depends - whether your neighbour is a coltivatore diretto or not.  However, in the nicest possible way its better to be secure.  Ask him to sign a yearly contract, with a scadenza after the harvest - november to november is good - for a peppercorn rent - 1 euro.  It can then be renewed every year over a glass of wine and everyones happy.  He may be lovely, but his heirs may not be .... 

I also live in Sicily, and in my part there is no problem with immigrants at all.   I live in an agricultural area, and North Africans have been working in the greenhouses and fields for years, for pitiful money.  There is a African community in the town and nobody looks at them strangely, and  as in the UK in the 50's, most people are aware that they are doing jobs that no Italian would dream of doing.  The chinese have set up shop everywhere, and are accepted widely.  Sicilians, (and southern Italians in general, are hugely accepting of others, having been ruled over and imposed upon for the last 2000 years.  Rosarno is a special case, the immigrants were being used as slave labour, housed in the most disgusting conditions and naturally felt aggrieved, the whole affair being stoked by the Ndrangheta.   Organised crime, (and governments, historically) know all too well that everyone needs a scapegoat, especially when the going isnt good.  In this case its the North Africans, it could have been the gypsies, the Jews in the 14 th century (and the 15th and 18th, 19th and 20th),   the Irish in England in the 20th century, the Italians in New York 100 years ago - and so on.  Unfortunately its human nature to want to feel superior to your neighbour and institutions stoke that fear.  However, compared to the north of ITaly which is actively racist in my experience, in the south it isnt the case.  After all most southern Italins were emigrants in the last 150 years, so they know all to well how the incomers feel. 

I agree bidets are good - the Brits have got it all wrong.  Other things that fill me with horror when I go back to the UK are: 1. wall to wall carpets - how filthy are they? too unhygienic for an Italian. 2. separate taps - why? its obvious a monocomando stops you burning your hands - but no - the Brits still put 2 taps on a sink so you have to scald your hands and then freeze them...   3) tocca a voi.... 

In the south of ITaly 87% of the population dont pay the RAI canone.  Its unlikely that they will single you out if you dont have one! 

If you have a low income - below 9000 euros pa - you can get a ISEE form which does give you free prescriptions and tests etc, but its a pretty fangled system, and obviously you have to pay for your ISEE!